House of Stone

"Oh, you saw?" Graham questioned the two girls, face twisting into a disturbing smile, "No matter," he said, giving his head a slight shake, "No…," he lifted the sword into their direction, "I'll just have to petrify you two as well. Pity really, that it comes down to this."

Noah and Patricia backed away, but the trees and petrified students made it hard to move without looking back, as they kept bumping into things.

"Where are you two going?" he questioned, "You cannot escape Graham Rohan! Heir of the Rohan family, wielder of the Blade of Seven Sins!"

Noah and Patricia turned and ran as fast as they could. They could hear Graham running after them, but didn't look back, didn't slow. They dodged around trees and students until they were out of the woods and running towards Anubis House.

Graham reached the treeline and paused, putting his free hand against a trunk as he caught his breath, his hair in disarray, "Next time…," he hissed, stalking back into the woods.


"Where are Nina and Fabian?" Patricia demanded when the two came back into Anubis House, panting, completely tired from their run back.

"Um…I'd assume together," Jerome said, confused. He and the others were in the sitting room, "Why?"

"That's not helping," Noah said, "Where are they? They went to Seth House, right?"

"I think so," Joy said, "Why? What's wrong?"

"It's Graham," Patricia told them.

"I'll go get them," Noah said, turning to run back.

"You're not going alone with Graham out there!" Patricia told her.

"Would someone mind explaining what's happening?" Mick questioned them.

"I'd like to know what the yelling is about," Victor told them, coming down the stairs, "Talk. Now."

Noah and Patricia looked at each other, "Ok…we should all talk about this," Noah said, "Something very bad is happening, and we need you, Victor. We need your help."

"What's going on?" Amber asked, "What is it?"

"I don't like the sound of this," Alfie commented.

"Graham Rohan," Patricia told Victor, "You know him, right?"

"I do," Victor said, "What of him?"

"Students were missing classes today," Patricia said.

"So, you believe me that it's weird?" Joy asked.

"Definitely," she said, "We found them."

"Found them?" Joy asked.

"They're frozen in stone," she told all of them, "In the woods. Graham is doing it; he has a sword that's turning people to stone!"

"Stone?" Jerome asked.

"Like the woman from last night?" Mara asked.

"Except not," Patricia said, "They're frozen, she could move."

"I think it's got to be something completely different," Noah said, "Or at least, probably not the same thing Graham is doing."

"What do you know about this sword?" Victor questioned, "I need information."

"He called it by a name," Noah said. "The Sword of Seven Sins."

"I'll look into it," Victor said, "Come with me. Now."

The students all followed him upstairs, because they weren't sure who he was addressing. He walked into his office, but they stayed in the hall outside.

Victor stepped out shortly with a crook in his hands; a scepter he had taken from the manor.

"The Crook of Osiris," he told them, "I was going to use it on Wolf. It will drag someone's soul to Duat; the Egyptian underworld."

"You'd kill him?" Mara questioned.

"We have someone running around with a magical weapon, Mrs. Jaffrey," Victor told her, "Who knows how dangerous he is? We might need to use this, if we can't figure anything else out."

"So…we have a maniac running around and petrifying people," Jerome said, "What about us? Are we supposed to go about our normal days?"

"No, Mr. Clarke," Victor told him, carrying the Crook through the group of students as he headed downstairs, "I am going to go see Mr. Sweet and inform him of what has happened here. We will figure out how to proceed from here."

"Victor, do you know anything about the Sword?" Noah asked, "Or do you have to study it?"

"I can tell you this," Victor said, "That isn't an Egyptian artifact."

"Everything we've dealt with has been Egyptian!" Alfie said, "And now…something else is magical?"

"I'm afraid so," Victor said, "What did it look like?"

"A knight's sword," Noah said.

"European, if I had to guess," he said, "It makes sense, since the Rohan family's history is here."

"Nina and Fabian are still at Seth House, probably," Patricia told Victor.

"None of you are leaving this house," Victor told them, "You'll be safe here. By now you know enough passages to stay hidden."

"We need Nina's locket," Joy said.

"Well then, just hide if something happens," Victor said, "He saw you two, right?"

"He did," Patricia said.

"Then lock everything," Victor said, opening the door, carrying the Crook in his hand as he headed out.

Alfie hurried down and locked the door, "Ok…now what?"

"Maybe we should barricade things," Mick said, "Leave he front door accessible for the others."

"We're supposed to be in fear, but am I the only one who can't take this seriously?" Amber asked, "It's just…Graham seems…"

"Amber, we saw him today," Noah said, "He looked…crazed."

"He's dangerous," Patricia agreed.

"Come on, let's block the doors!" Mick told them, hurrying to the back door.

Jerome shook his head, "I didn't want anything else to happen…," he muttered, "One normal year, or term, is that so much to ask for?"

"This is far from what I wanted to experience," Mara said.

"Maybe we should try to investigate this Sword," Amber suggested.

"It would be worth a shot," Joy agreed.

"I'll go start researching," Mara said, hurrying up to her room.

"Come help me! Jerome, Alfie!" Mick called.

The two headed his way, planning on blocking the door and every window they could.

Noah watched them all. Amber and Joy had gone to assist the others; Joy to Mara, Amber to the boys. Patricia finally went with her, leaving Noah alone to make her choice.

She went to the front door and headed out, making sure it locked behind her. She had to get to Seth House; she had to try to rescue the others.


Graham watched as two more students turned swiftly to stone before his eyes. He began to laugh and walked on. He was nearing Seth House, where he would pay the siblings another visit, and show them the fate that awaited them should they disobey.

He had made sure to bring them under his thumb the previous night by threat of petrification. He had new tasks for them, new tasks for everyone in his House.